Dethklok blows. The music is bland as hell and the jokes are generally stupid nonsense for pimply mallcore queers who heard Hammer Smashed Face once and decided it was the most brootal shit ever.

The_Beast_in_Black wrote:

Both the band and the show seem to have a strong following among the types of metalheads who subscribe to "metalhead memes" pages on Facebook. Because if it mentions metal at all then you don't need to have a good joke; those dudes will like it anyway.

My only exposure to the concept was hearing the first album played in bits between sets at gigs a few years back, and seeing maybe three or four episodes of the first season of the show. I don't really have any interest in the band. The show....well, it wasn't very funny, as some others have said here. A lot of the so-called humour was not clever at all but instead dependent on random happenstance. Apparently this is the norm for this television network, or block of shows...Adult Swim or whatever it's called...so this is basically "Adult Swim: The Metal Version"....just throw a bunch of random stuff at the wall and hope people find it amusing. I guess the show was kind of gory as well, which no doubt pleased many. Whatever....thankfully my one friend who was a fan has stopped talking about it, so I don't have to think about it or be bothered at all.

_________________Hush! and harkTo the sorrowful cryOf the wind in the dark.Hush and hark, without murmur or sigh,To shoon that tread the lost aeons:To the sound that bids you to die.

I'm not going to get all fucking hostile about them like some people in this thread. I don't think it's very funny, but that's beside the point. There are about a million bands out there that are far better than Dethklok, so why would I bother with them? I pretty much just ignore them.

Haha, well, I sure can't discount the early Metallica recordings, but there are certainly a lot more bands worthy of our attention now.

I'll always remember telling this woman at work that I was going to a "death metal gig", Incantation, one night, and she getting all excited and saying "I think my son's going to that show!" Turned out her son was not going to see Incantation, but Deathclock, who were playing the same night. I almost became annoyed with him without even having met the guy.

_________________Hush! and harkTo the sorrowful cryOf the wind in the dark.Hush and hark, without murmur or sigh,To shoon that tread the lost aeons:To the sound that bids you to die.

Hate the music, the show is okay but not good enough for me to spend any time on. Not sure why anyone who like heavy metal would ever like the music, its totaly lame. I could see people who don't like heavy metal liking it as some sort of ironic joke though.

Dethklok blows. The music is bland as hell and the jokes are generally stupid nonsense for pimply mallcore queers who heard Hammer Smashed Face once and decided it was the most brootal shit ever.

You don't have to get so uppity about it. Some of us just think it's kind of fun to see metal stuff on TV, considering how little it's usually recognized in the mainstream. I think Metalocalypse does a good job as an over-the-top parody of what so many people outside of the metal subculture think it is, and, let's face it, what some bands are actually like to a lesser extent. When a band tries way too hard to be "brutal" it gets comical, and Dethklok plays off of that. Both metalheads and non-metalheads can laugh at it because it says "Come on, you don't really think we're this ridiculous, do you?"

It's stupid humor, I'll admit that. But not everything has to be highbrow. And personally I think it's a clever twist that in the show Dethklok are the biggest band in the world, to the point where the entire economy depends on them. Can you imagine a world where everyone is screaming for a death metal band instead of Justin Bieber? The fans of those stupid mainstream idols who get all the hero worship are insane enough without violent death metal influences.

And yeah, the music is pretty subdued compared to real death metal bands. Anyone who thinks Dethklok are as heavy as it gets is an idiot. That doesn't mean no one can find entertainment value in both. You just can't hold them to exactly the same standards as a serious band. They have their own sound, and I find it enjoyable even if it's not exactly Meshuggah.

Yeah, people are really hooked onto this idea that anyone who dislikes the show or music MUST be looking for something super intelligent and high brow and artistic. Not the case really...Dethklok is not the be all end all of low brow "stupid" humor - there are plenty of reasons why one wouldn't find it funny and there are plenty of other, very varied alternatives that are funny for different reasons. Assuming that disliking this band or the TV show means that someone is sitting around searching for meaning and complexity in everything is incredibly stupid.

Indeed. There are other shows on Adult Swim that use similar humor and are superior. Superjail comes to mind for the surreal, fantastic setting into which characters attempt to re-enact mundane activities with gratuitous cartoon violence. The difference being that Superjail has good comedic timing, interesting art design, lots of fascinating motion and color, a cast of colorful and exciting characters, etc. Dethklok has a way of hammering away at very predictable jokes in a very deliberate and tiresome way. The color palate is muted and dreary (and not in a cool way like in gothic media or metal album covers), the newgrounds grade cg animation is stiff and lifeless yet also very choppy. Not stylish, just unpleasant and lazy looking. The wikipedia level insight into metal is pretty well known. All the nuance of the metal world from which there are endless jokes to be made are lost, with the subject matter being presented with only the broadest, shallowest strokes. The very thing which is supposed to sell the show is its weakest point.

And yeah, the music is bland. Limper than the limpest melodeth we got a big kick out of making fun of so many years ago. Not much to say...

It has no good qualities and people are literally forcing themselves to like it. The world is a sadly fascinating place.

_________________"Since that time, I have received highest level confirmations that such organizations not only exist but are rooted in satanic ritual murder and extend across America’s political landscape into nearly every community."

I used to enjoy the show during its initial appearance. Looking back upon it now, it's really bad. The jokes in particular grew worse and worse as the most obvious ones were used up rather quickly. The premise is a little silly and confused too. They push the "brutal" aspect of the band to the extreme, yet the music they play sounds like flower-power metal with poorly satirized vocals. Maybe that explains their insane popularity within the show? I don't even really want to dissect the show too much. It's short, rarely funny, mostly annoying.

It doesn't really function well as a parody of metal. All it seems to make fun of are not so bright people who just like "brutal shit". Sure, those people exist, but they're a pretty small part of metal and there's plenty of other aspects to make fun of. Dethklok is a decent band though, not spectacular, but good for a play once in a while.

The thing I don't get at all is the elitism when it comes to Dethklok.

Because not liking something is the very definition of elitism, right?

lennonlikesmetal wrote:

Why do people listen to this band when there is so much great music in the world?

You really disagree with that being elitism? It makes no difference to me if nobody likes them but me, or if they stop releasing albums. I have 3 enjoyable albums to listen to, but why does anyone feel the need to put the band down? Why waste the time to trash any band you don't like, why waste your energy? Since when does "I do not like this band at all" not tell the whole story? I know the definition of elitism my friend, and attempting to make yourself seem above something is it.

It doesn't really function well as a parody of metal. All it seems to make fun of are not so bright people who just like "brutal shit". Sure, those people exist, but they're a pretty small part of metal and there's plenty of other aspects to make fun of. Dethklok is a decent band though, not spectacular, but good for a play once in a while.

t1337Dude wrote:

the music they play sounds like flower-power metal

It really doesn't.

I wish it didn't, but sadly it does. Ever listen closely to Thunderhorse (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stdqPT8LvTg) ? Closer to a mix of Iced Earth (thrashy riffs) and Dragonforce (uber-melodic power-shredding leads) than Suffocation or Morbid Angel. Even the awful overproduced death metal vocals barely qualify.

I wish it didn't, but sadly it does. Ever listen closely to Thunderhorse (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stdqPT8LvTg) ? Closer to a mix of Iced Earth (thrashy riffs) and Dragonforce (uber-melodic power-shredding leads) than Suffocation or Morbid Angel. Even the awful overproduced death metal vocals barely qualify.

Well that's what a lot of melodeath is; power metal melodies and riffs, with growls.

It's also a bit odd that a recent thread about posers in metal was met with an almost resounding "so what"? and "how can you even know that", and yet every Dethklok thread it's like it's not only this solid truth, but Dethklok and it's poser fans are somehow a big problem and no-one can shut up about them.

Dethklok obviously did well what they were meant to do. They were slightly amusing, although the music was sub-par for most metal in general, and to me the show was a mixed bag. Nevertheless, considering how much of the production and music writing is handled by one person, along with the directing of the show, I'd say it's an incredible feat. Dethalbum III seemed to change a lot of things. The music and theme has continued to stay predominantly experimental in some ways, but is now a little less "silly", and they're (he is?) writing more catchy songs and better lyrics that kind of stay in the boundaries of the universe he's created, much like Immortal did. It's not about coffee jingles and metal cliches and having painfully overwhelming motifs anymore, although a part of that will always exist. I'm sure for most people it's harder to discern this newer attitude from the initial one, and some people may just never get past the gimmick. Still, If they keep it up I'll have to stay a loyal fan. Especially if they keep writing songs like The Galaxy \m/

_________________You went on without meaning, an everlasting strife.It wasn't lust or alcohol, you were Poisoned By Life.

I disagree with that being elitism by both the actual definition of the word (look it up) and by the common mistaken definition of the word (ie, snobbery).

So yes.

Absolutely. Church, I don't know your reasons for hanging around discussion boards, but I like the discussion here, and that generally involves people disagreeing with each other a lot, hopefully with a certain degree of civility. Frankly I wouldn't hang around at all if we were forced to have a positive outlook on everything, and discussions would die before they even got started...you'd just have a lot of people saying "yeah, so-and-so rules", and maybe listing a few reasons why, if you're lucky. But that's pretty boring, even for fans, you know? We like to have something to take issue with. Most of us probably never mention Deathclock in actual conversation, but the OP said he wanted a deathclock discussion, and that's what we're giving...

_________________Hush! and harkTo the sorrowful cryOf the wind in the dark.Hush and hark, without murmur or sigh,To shoon that tread the lost aeons:To the sound that bids you to die.

The show is entertaining, not amazing but worth watching for 15 minutes. The music, well some songs are OK like Awaken but not something I listen to on any basis, I don't own any of the albums. I've heard much worse and much better metal.

I disagree with that being elitism by both the actual definition of the word (look it up) and by the common mistaken definition of the word (ie, snobbery).

So yes.

Absolutely. Church, I don't know your reasons for hanging around discussion boards, but I like the discussion here, and that generally involves people disagreeing with each other a lot, hopefully with a certain degree of civility. Frankly I wouldn't hang around at all if we were forced to have a positive outlook on everything, and discussions would die before they even got started...you'd just have a lot of people saying "yeah, so-and-so rules", and maybe listing a few reasons why, if you're lucky. But that's pretty boring, even for fans, you know? We like to have something to take issue with. Most of us probably never mention Deathclock in actual conversation, but the OP said he wanted a deathclock discussion, and that's what we're giving...

I never said people shouldn't disagree, I just said it's pointless to have 30 people post 'Dethklok blows'. How is that discussion? And what is gained by doing that in any topic? That's like if I joined a film forum and just posted how much movies suck. That's not to say some people don't have really good points against Dethklok, because some posts were intelligent. But I think we can agree that simply posting a single sentence for or against a certain band is not good discussion, it's just pointless. Anyway this has gotten off-topic so I'm going to back out of this one

I owe it to Dethklok for introducing me to metal, and for that I think it is a good gateway for people to get into some of the more extreme stuff, because of all the references in the show and the amount of famous metal musicians who appear as characters in the show.

That's not to say some people don't have really good points against Dethklok, because some posts were intelligent.

Who were the intelligent posters?

_________________"Since that time, I have received highest level confirmations that such organizations not only exist but are rooted in satanic ritual murder and extend across America’s political landscape into nearly every community."

I wish it didn't, but sadly it does. Ever listen closely to Thunderhorse (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stdqPT8LvTg) ? Closer to a mix of Iced Earth (thrashy riffs) and Dragonforce (uber-melodic power-shredding leads) than Suffocation or Morbid Angel. Even the awful overproduced death metal vocals barely qualify.

Well that's what a lot of melodeath is; power metal melodies and riffs, with growls.

And back to the point that you're somehow missing: melodeath isn't brutal. Maybe Dethklok isn't even supposed to be. I think it'd be more interesting though if the music wasn't so confused. It doesn't know if it wants to be a joke, or if it wants be genuinely captivating melodeath. So it tries to do both, but neither of which very well. There's probably far more interesting ideas and concepts the show could give us relating to metal, but instead we get hammered with the same shitty jokes and poor animation. On the upside, I enjoy the voice acting. I just wish the show was better, it's not that often something gets made like this.

My girlfriend quite likes the show, I never really got into it - seen some stuff that was kinda funny in the same way most of Adult Swim is funny - I like stupid, random humour a lot of the time. The music bores me, though. Can't say I'd watch it regularly, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be at all.

I think the complaint is that the band are portrayed as being THE BRUTALEST BAND IN THE WORLD! when they play a notably un-brutal style of metal.

Yes. In fact, the fact that that style isn't brutal compared to the scene from which it emerged was one of its main selling points. "See, this is death metal but with melody and real singing unlike that guttural stuff."

_________________"Since that time, I have received highest level confirmations that such organizations not only exist but are rooted in satanic ritual murder and extend across America’s political landscape into nearly every community."

I never said that everyone who dislikes Dethklok must be looking for something highbrow. I was responding specifically to the person who called it "stupid nonsense." That sounded like the basis of that person's dislike was a lack of intelligence in the humor. Not a ridiculous conclusion to draw.

And I was just using Meshuggah as an example of heavier, more technically complex death metal as opposed to the light and melodic stuff Dethklok does. Whether you like them or not doesn't really have anything to do with it.